Equal Parts

The first time I made this dish I was alone for the weekend. Jeff was on his annual golf trip to Florida, and I was home cooking and baking nonstop -- I suppose, mostly, to keep myself busy. At the time I was on a quesadilla (“dilla”) kick, and had recently purchased a tortilla press due to my obsession with learning how to make all components of all of my favorite dishes. I also had on hand two full heads of cauliflower because I had planned to make my favorite roasted cauliflower and chickpea salad for work lunches that week, but then never got around to it. Thus, my cauliflower tacos were born. I’ve made a lot of mediocre tacos in my life. In fact, I’ve actually said I gave up on trying to make tacos at home because what was the point when there are so many great taco joints in the world these days. But these were so great I immediately declared them my go-to homemade taco.

MAKE THE ROASTED RED PEPPER AIOLI

I followed Giada’s recipe here, but next time I would modify it to have slightly less mayonnaise and slightly more olive oil, and possibly add red pepper flakes. And although I profess “my obsession with learning how to make all components of all of my favorite dishes,” I truly hate roasting red peppers. Buy them in a jar - they’re perfect! I also don’t make my own mayonnaise, because I like Hellmann’s.

ROAST THE CAULIFLOWER

Preheat oven to 400F. Wash and chop one head of cauliflower. Chop into smaller pieces than you would for, say, a raw vegetable tray. The benefits are twofold: 1) smaller pieces wrap into a taco better, and 2) smaller pieces provide more surface area to transform into crispy, caramelized, flavorful bits. Toss chopped cauliflower with 2 tbsb olive oil, ½ tsp dried oregano, ½ tsp chili powder, and ¼ tsp cumin, ½ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp black pepper. Spread onto sheet tray. Roast for about 40 minutes.

MAKE THE TORTILLAS

I followed a recipe from the Kitchn here, and it worked well. As a note to myself, and perhaps others, make sure the heat is indeed on medium-high. I have a constant fear of kitchen fire, so I always err on the side of too little heat. On simply medium heat, the tortillas will be tough, dry, and not toasted. It wasn’t until I turned the heat up that I got the crispy, yet foldable, texture I was going for.

ASSEMBLE THE TACOS

Scoop a spoonful of the crispy cauliflower onto a corn tortilla. Spoon roasted red pepper aioli over the top. Sprinkle cotija cheese. Top with chopped cilantro (unless you are one of those people for whom this will ruin the dish) and a squeeze of lime. Enjoy a solo night at home on the couch in front of The Sound of Music. Don’t forget to also prepare your favorite margaritas.

(There are also shrimp tacos in this picture.)